The Learning Technologies Group
Welcome to the Learning Technologies Group website
Our teaching and research reflect a conviction that effective use of learning technologies is crucial to their role in fostering learning. In order to reap educational benefits from these technologies, they must be applied in appropriate ways.
Learning technologies increasingly permeate every part of the educational enterprise. They have revolutionised the way information is generated, disseminated, and utilised. The Learning Technologies Group at Curtin is ideally equipped to deal with the educational challenges that flow from this ongoing revolution.
Together, members of the Learning Technologies Group have a wide range of interests and expertise in this area. We cover the application of learning technologies across all levels of education, from the earliest years of schooling right through to tertiary study and industrial training. Some members of the group specialise in the effective use of learning technologies in classrooms. Others focus on the potential of various information and communication technologies to support learning in less traditional contexts.
Rapidly advancing technological change continues to open up new and exciting doors for educators. However, for real improvements in education to follow, the needs of learners rather than the capacities of technology must be paramount. This human-centered approach is fundamental to all our activities in the Learning Technologies Group
Richard Lowe
Professor of Learning Technologies
Learning Technologies: A Curtin View
Human Centred
The human aspect of learning technologies is central to both our teaching and our research. We believe that understanding how learners process information and so construct new understandings is fundamental to the effective application of these technologies. Further, the technologies available for supporting learning processes are continually changing and being replaced. As a result, rapid outdating of some technologies is absolutely inevitable. In contrast, learning is always with us irrespective of these changes in technology. The characteristics of human learners are an on-going feature of the educational landscape that ultimately determines the effectiveness of any approach to fostering learning. This is why we emphasise the 'learning' aspect of the phrase 'learning technologies'. By giving priority to learning, we ensure that our approach to learning technologies retains its currency.
Instructional Design
Advances in easy-to-use authoring software are opening new doors for individual educators to design and develop technology-based learning resources by themselves. No longer do teachers have to put up with so-so materials produced for mass education markets. Instead, they can readily produce their own high quality educational resources and tailor them to the unique requirements of their own specific contexts. These resources can then be implemented and supported in a contextually appropriate manner. Understanding learning processes and the ways that technologies can support learning empowers teachers with the knowledge-base to become effective instructional designers. Whether teachers are locating, selecting, and using resources for constructing curricula or designing their own materials the principles of instructional design are paramount. These instructional design principles form an important core of what we do in the Learning Technologies Group at Curtin.
Research & Teaching
Many educators express concern about the gap between educational theories and the practical realities of fostering learning in context. A key goal of the Learning Technologies Group at Curtin is to help close this gap. Our approach is to draw together the bodies of knowledge about learning theories, instructional design, and student learning then apply this knowledge in practical educational situations such as online learning environments. The way we approach teaching and research are closely linked, and therefore mutually beneficial. The cutting-edge research carried out by members of the Learning Technologies Group feeds directly into the high quality Learning Technologies Units available in Curtin's Department of Education. The types of educational research we undertake are all about feasible ways to improve educational practice. We involve our postgraduate students in exciting research projects that target realistic ways of making learning more effective.
